New award celebrates medicine in literature
What do Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’, Jean-Dominique Bauby’s ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ and Ian McEwan’s ‘Saturday’ have in common? All three acclaimed works would have met the criteria for a major new book prize launching today.
The Wellcome Trust Book Prize is open to outstanding works of fiction and non-fiction on the theme of health, illness or medicine. The £25,000 annual award, created by the Wellcome Trust, is the first of its kind to bring together the traditionally diverse fields of medicine and literature.
Comedian and former psychiatric nurse Jo Brand will act as Chair of the 2009 judging panel, which includes BBC science journalist Quentin Cooper, Welsh poet and non-fiction writer Gwyneth Lewis, physician and author Raymond Tallis and Professor of Medicine in the Arts Brian Hurwitz.
Jo Brand says: “Good and bad health are pretty fundamental to all our lives, so it's no surprise these themes crop up fairly often in literature too. The Wellcome Trust Book Prize recognises writers who have incorporated medicine in such a way as to really engage readers with the subject, exploring our understanding of what it means to be healthy or sick. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of wonderful books for me and the other judges to read. I just hope we can reach a final decision without too much damage to our own health."
- The prize will be open to books published in the UK and works published in English translation.
- A short list of six works will be announced at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2009.
- The winner will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in November 2009 at Wellcome Collection in London - the Wellcome Trust’s renowned cultural venue for medicine, life and art.
Clare Matterson, Director of Medicine, Society and History at the Wellcome Trust, comments: "There's always been a thirst for books that combine excellent writing with accurate and compelling medical stories. We hope this prize will stimulate even more interest, excitement and debate about medicine and literature. Our award reflects the Wellcome Trust's aim to broaden the appeal of medicine and reach new audiences - from literature lovers to science enthusiasts alike."
To find out more, visit the Wellcome Trust Book Prize website.
The Wellcome Trust Book Prize Judges
Jo Brand (Chair)
Before hitting the UK comedy circuit at the age of 29, Jo Brand spent ten years as a psychiatric nurse in London, experiencing first-hand the day-to-day troubles of people with clinical depression. She soon became one of the most successful alternative comedians in the country. Her award-winning Channel 4 programme, 'Through the Cakehole' made her a household name, and she has remained a television favourite, appearing on shows including 'QI', 'Have I Got News for You' and 'Question Time', while also touring theatres regularly as a stand-up. In 2005, Jo was one of the judges of the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two novels, with a third soon to be published.
Quentin Cooper
Science journalist Quentin Cooper presents Radio 4’s 'The Material World', the show that reports new developments in science around the world. He is a film, television and radio critic and hosts the annual X-Change debates for the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He recently presented a discussion of science in crime fiction at the BA Festival of Science 2008.
Brian Hurwitz
Brian Hurwitz is D’Oyly Carte Professor of Medicine and the Arts at King’s College London. His research encompasses clinical medicine, ethics, law, medical history and the role of narrative thinking in medical practice. At King’s College he helped to establish the UK’s first MA programme in Literature and Medicine, and is also setting up a Medical Humanities Centre there.
Gwyneth Lewis
Gwyneth Lewis was appointed Wales’s first National Poet from 2005 to 2006. She has published six books of poetry in Welsh and English, two non-fiction books and three libretti for the Welsh National Opera. She was Poet in Residence at the Physics and Astronomy department of Cardiff University in 2005, and is currently a member of the Welsh Academi. She is also a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
Raymond Tallis
Between 1987 and 2006 Raymond Tallis was Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and a Consultant Physician in Health Care of the Elderly in Salford. In March 2006 he became a full-time writer, though he remains Visiting Professor at St George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London. He has published fiction, three volumes of poetry, and over a dozen books on the philosophy of mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism.
About the Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.